Only money
by shark-demon-luv
Summary: When everyone is gone the only thing you can count on is money,or at least that's what he thought until an unknown kunoichi did a selfless act and saved him and his partner from death.Now he's made a promise:to protect her. Not a romance fic.


Hi everyone! how are you? I know it's been a long time since I've written anything but I was busy with school, gomen. Hope you like this new story, I've spent the last couple of days working non-stop on it. I wasn't sure if it was best to leave it as a one-shot or make it a multi chapter story, what do you think?

Read & Review please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, all credit goes to Masashi Kishimoto. The only thing I own is the plot and my OC.

* * *

><p>All his life he had been devoted to one thing and only one thing: money. He cherished it as much or more than his own life, after all money was the only thing one could count on, it made the world go round, even hell ran on money, in his opinion at least. He had discovered in the early years of his youth that you never could trust other people, after all he had been betrayed and imprisoned by his own village after failing a vital mission, trying to kill the shodaime hokage wasn't the easiest of things not even for an elite shinobi like him.<p>

Having a religion was never on his mind, although Hidan would constantly pester him about being a 'cheap bastard who would go to hell for being a greedy heathen', the fact was he couldn't care less after all if there where such things as heaven or hell he was sure he would end in hell, as well as Hidan himself and the rest of Akatsuki. Sadly he had to admit that Hidan's religion seemed a little more realistic that others, given he had his ability to 'sacrifice heathens' as he put it, Kakuzu always got kinda irked when he saw him perform his 'transformation' but of course he never did nothing that would give away his thoughts, that would be a weakness not even gennin could afford.

After hearing this I'm sure you could understand how shocked he was when 2 of his main ideas about life changed completely in one day. It had started as any other, waking up, having a quick shower, arguing with Hidan over their next bounty hunt and heading after such, the only different thing at that time was that Hidan had been slightly less whiny when deciding where to go, as if he had been expecting the outcome of their argument and had agreed in order to avoid wasting his time and his breath.

At around 10:00 am they were out of the little town on wind country they were staying in and walking at a slow but constant pace in the direction of a monastery, apparently their next bounty was a monk there. If everything when according to plan and they didn't make unnecessary stops or detours they would be there in about a week, at most two.

The heat of the desert was making him feel delirious if not feverish too and the fact that Hidan seemed to be coping with it better that him only proved to make him feel weaker and humiliated. Talking about Hidan, he hadn't whined even a single time during their journey, scratch that, he hadn't even said a word nor made a sound, maybe he was feeling ill too, the truth was none of them had drank or eaten anything since the day before at around 7 o'clock in the evening and that was a long time ago. Slowly he felt himself being barely able to continue walking, having more difficulty moving his limbs each passing second yet he forced himself to continue, it wouldn't be too long 'till the next oasis or at least he hoped. Right when he was falling unconscious he realized he was feeling something that had been foreign to him for quite some time now, hope.

Darkness, an infinite expanse of darkness that seemed to have no end neither limits. He felt light, as if he didn't weight more than a feather, detached from his body, as if he was seeing it from the outside and strangely enough for him he felt a little bit scared, of what he couldn't tell yet. He realized there was someone else there, he couldn't see him/her but he was sure of it, all he could do was sense a sort of presence, not like a chakra signature exactly but close to it only a little bit more shifty, and it was a strong and overpowering one.

' Take a step closer to me kakuzu-san, I think we need to talk about your ideals and such'.

So it was a man, who curiously enough new his name, but of course many bounty hunters with up-to-date bingo books knew that information about him, concerning the matters of his way of thinking, well that was another story.

As bluntly an emotionless as he could he voiced what had been on his mind since he regained consciousness

'where am I? And what is it that you state we should discuss about my way of thinking?'

It was wandering his mind the thought that he hadn't asked who this strange and mysterious man, who he had yet to see, was, but he had the hunch that the answer would come to him sooner than what he expected.

'You're in the passage between life and death, where every mortal is judged and punished or rewarder according to the result of it. I'm going to be the judge and I can assure you, if you don't change your conception of the world around you a second chance will be the last thing I'll think of giving you. I'm a deity, known by many names but nameless at the same time. Tell me, do you still believe that there is no existence of a god?'

Now this was a difficult situation, for starters he couldn't fathom the fact that he was speaking to a god and the idea that he had to change his mind set if he wanted to continue living was unsettling, he had acquired immortality through science and proved that he didn't need any god to get it and now the same god he had thought he won against came to strip that power away from him and make him a common mortal like everyone else? Or worst, just kill him and sent him to hell where he would probably be punished for his sins? If all of this was true then Kakuzu was slowly but surely starting to think that Hidan had been right for once in a lifetime and he should have listened to him, he never thought he would see this day come, the day Hidan, of all people, was right, maybe he was just going mad, that was probably it. His train of thought couldn't go further seeing as a booming voice interrupted it.

'This is not about Hidan or anyone else so stop getting out of topic, your not going crazy, I can assure you all of this is real and that there will be dire consequences if you don't listen to me and change at least one of your ways of living. I will allow you to continue living your life as before but take close consideration to my words, if you don't trust anyone no one will trust you and if you lose your current motivation a religion or loved ones always help you in order to keep going, just think about it because next time what kills you may not be the heat but be someone who you did wrong to'.

Kakuzu didn't have much time to think about everything this 'god' was telling him or the fact that it could read his mind, he was to preoccupied seeing as the place he was had started to illuminate is lights of all colors and shift as if there was an earthquake or something of the sort. After a few seconds of this he started to feel drowsy, as if he hadn't slept for a long time and his body was taking a toll on him, and just when he was falling into unconsciousness he heard the same voice as before mutter something aching to 'remember my words Kakuzu' and then there was nothing, darkness, like before, surrounded him but this time it was different ironically enough this time he felt heavy and could sense he was lying on a hard surface. As time went on he started thinking about everything that had just happened to him, so he had to trust people? It all seemed unrealistic to him, even if he wanted to trust someone no one would like to even be near him or the Akatsuki that he was sure of. As bizarre as it sounded, Kakuzu would take care of the next person to help him in a selfless way, he could only wonder how much time would he have till something like that happened...however it happened sooner than expected.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was an unfamiliar room instead of the unwelcoming desert. He wondered briefly were was Hidan and why was he here but before he could muster any sort of mental answer someone entered the room. She was angelical in her own way, long brunette hair that reached her lower back and ended in curls, big green eyes that held an innocence he hadn't seen in a long time and only in children, all in all she had to be an angel seeing how she had saved him, of course there was a possibility she didn't know he was in Akatsuki but that was a slim chance and there was also the fact that he wasn't the most handsome of men, he was more on the ugly side he could clearly remember how many people refereed to him as a 'zombie' or 'monster' he never felt offended by the comments after all his goal wasn't being good looking but being powerful.

When he heard her voice he decided she was truly an angel sent from heaven, no matter what his opinion on religion was.'Are you feeling better? I found you and your friend Hidan and brought you both here, the both of you were heatstroke you would have died if I had arrived any minute later' It was strange hearing how someone had taken care of them without the actual need to do so, after all he was more that accustomed to people wanting something in exchange for their services, from hired assassins to prostitutes to ninjas, all of them wanted something in return for what they did, Akatsuki was not an exception, they were mercenaries, they did whatever job you gave them as long as you paid them, no matter if it was money or resources, they didn't care who was their employer or what had he ever done in the past that was none of their business and didn't change anything for them.

He opened his mouth to reply to her but before he could say anything she handed him a glass of water and some pills that looked like pain killers, he silently drank it and gave her the glass back giving a nod of thanks.

'Why did you save us? Don't you know we're criminals?'

He hoped that hearing this she didn't change he mind and kicked them out of her house, that would have been really bothersome. She didn't answer at first but suddenly she burst in a fit of laugher, that wasn't something he had been expecting he had something more like fear and hatred in mind but this was the complete opposite, what was wrong with this girl?

'You think I didn't know that? Akatsuki is known in all the elemental countries, all shinobi and civilian knows them and what things they have done, it would be ridiculous for me to not be aware, after all I'm a medic-nin. And I saved you because no one deserves to die of dehydration on the dessert, it too cruel even for the Akatsuki. So tell me, what's your name? Hidan has already told me his but refuses to tell me yours, he says he 'forgot it' I know he does it just to annoy me but there really is nothing I can do.'

Kakuzu's POV

After a while of talking about who she was and where were we I discovered some useful things, for starters she was called Minami (she gave me no last name) and we were on the outskirts of fire country in the middle of the forest, completely isolated from any ninja village or even small town. We would have continued our conversation if it wasn't for the sound of a door opening and steps approaching, I tensed and released some of my tendrils just in case it was an enemy, but relaxed when I felt it was Hidan's chackra signature.

'Hey Kakuzu! So you're fuckin' alive? And I had thought that maybe this time you would have fuckin' died for good, seriously...'

I was about to try to murder him for that comment but Minami's voice made me stop for a second.

'Ne, Hidan-kun that isn't the way to talk to a friend who has just waken up, is it? Wouldn't you be mad if he had done the same with you?'

I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing, she was talking to Hidan as if he was a small kid, and he was listening to her!

'I don't have to be good with heathen bastards like him, who only care about money'.

She gave me a scolding look and I evaded her eyes, I felt like I was a little kid again and she was my mother, it was strange to say the least.

Days went on and before I or Hidan realized it it had already been a week and we had to start moving again, I was sure leader-sama would contact us soon on the matter of my bounties and the jinchuriki extraction, it had probably been delayed because of our absence, something that I'm sure had made almost everyone, including leader-sama, mad with us.

We had decided to head out in the direction of amegakure's base tomorrow morning, and in order to achieve that we had been resting all evening. I was just ready to fall asleep for good when I felt my ring pulsating, so leader-sama had got inpatient because of our absence?

'Leader-sama. What is it that you need?' I politely asked.

'Where have Hidan and you been for the past week? And why did you not contact me for the briefing of your mission?' Leader-sama asked, he looked truly curious and that was strange seeing as he was accustomed to me and Hidan arriving late for briefings on missions or meetings, maybe he could sense this time something different had happened...

'Hidan and I were saved by a woman when we lost consciousness during our journey trough the desert. She's a medic-nin and isn't affiliated to any ninja village although she seems like a very skilled medic as well as kunoichi' I replied, hoping he wouldn't order us to kill her, I personally had taken a like to her and I was sure Hidan was fond of her too.

'I see...offer her to be our medic, we could use her. Where does she live?' He asked. So he was considering letting her live, that was really good news.

'She lives is a cabin in the middle of the forest isolated from everyone on the outskirts of fire country. I'll talk to her about it right away. Is there something else you would like to know or for me to tell her?' Leader-sama seemed to be pondering something, I wonder what it was?

'Tell her that she can heal our member at her home or in the main base and that anyway she'll be given any healing item she needs, if she decides to come to the main base, escort her but blind fold her when nearing the base, we can't trust her in anyway yet.' I gave him a nod and finished the astral connection.

'Minami-san, we have to talk about some business, it's important'

She seemed slightly surprised but quickly complied and started walking in the direction of the living room, Hidan looked strangely at us but said nothing and continued eating dinner normally.

'What is it that you need Kakuzu-kun? I was busy cooking something for you and Hidan-kun to take on your trip home'.

That's when I realized she was worried about us, I didn't get why she was so concerned about us but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

'I have a proposal for you, leader-sama has given me orders to offer you the position of Akatsuki's medic as well as member, if you accept you have two options, go with me and Hidan to the main base in Amegakure or give us the coordinates of this cabin and help hurt Akatsuki members that come. If you don't accept...we'll probably have to kill you.' I spoke the last part with sorrow seeping into my words, it was painfully obvious I cared about her, I owed her my life after all.

'I would really like to go with you to Amegakure, I feel kinda lonely sometimes and I enjoy Hidan's and your company very much.' She looked relieved to see she could come with us, I only hope the other members like her, or at least don't make her life miserable, I would kill them myself if that was the case.

'In that case pack whatever you need to take today and be ready by tomorrow at 6 o'clock in the morning. Amegakure is no more than 8 hours away from here if we go in a fast pace so make some food and bring water if you can.'

It was pleasant in the forest, nice temperature, not so windy but with a soft breeze all in all it was a really peaceful place.

'Hey dickhead, are we far from there?' forget the peaceful part, nothing that includes Hidan on it can't be peaceful and quite as I would have liked.

'Hidan, we're not even close because 1. we left Minami-chan's cabin no more than two hours ago and 2. do you see any rain Hidan? If it isn't raining we're not in the rain village, so, does that answer your question?'

Hidan always had a way to ruin my good mood, with his loudness and stupidity, I wonder why didn't I have another partner or at least why couldn't I kill Hidan, stupid immortal. I could hear Hidan muttering curses but paid no attention to him, instead I looked in the direction of Minami-chan, she was rather amused by our little fight or at least I thought so. That was the moment I made a promise to myself, I would protect her no matter what, I would even give my life for her, after all I had already lived 91 years and she was barely 23.

Minami-chan's POV

As we were nearing the rain village I remembered why I never strayed to far from my home, in that direction at least. That thought made me remember something that I was pretty sure would change my life, meeting Hidan-kun and Kakuzu-kun. I normally didn't believe in destiny or nothing of the sort but this had been too strange to be just coincidence.

_Flashback._

_I was just about to go into a little town nearby to buy some food and other supplies when I realized I needed some herbs, I was pretty much accustomed to villagers coming to my cabin is search of medical aid and I never refused to heal them so they didn't hesitate to come. At first I thought it would be best to go another day after all it had been a while since anyone had come for help but I decided it would be a great oportunity to go and restock all of the herbs I was missing and maybe buy some medical jutsu scrolls So I headed out and went in the direction of a little town in wind country, I always went there because they sold medical things in general, and at a low price too._

_It was nearing noon and I had just finished with my shopping spree, I had made a few stops to talk to some of the villagers and was surprised to hear two men in black and red cloaks had left town that morning, many of the villagers were plainly scared of them while others were saying how they had went in the direction of the desert with no food or water.'Who can be so stupid? Aren't they trained in the ninja academy to know such things about survival?' I heard an old lady saying to some women, what did she know about ninjas or survival at all? You only learned those things if you were a suna shinobi, which by their actions I assumed none of this Akatsuki members were._

_It was extremely hot on the walk home, the desert was unbearable. The sun was hitting at full intensity because of the time of the day and I couldn't take refuge in the shadow of any tree because of the lack of any. I briefly wondered if the Akatsuki members were already out of the dessert or if they had died because of the heat but before my mind could muster any answer I tripped over something and fell face first in the sand, or at least I had thought it was sand until I noticed that it was something hard,'What the hell?' I looked up only to realize I had fallen on top of someone, and not just some civilian, an Akatsuki member in the flesh._

_I could barely move yet I continued walking, I always thought I was to merciless for my own good and now I was sure of it, after all who in his right mind would save an S-rank criminal from death? 'No, it wasn't enough saving one, you had to save both of them, didn't you? Now you have almost no chackra and will be labeled as a traitor to any village, what I needed, black ops from every elemental country on my back' I berated myself all the way from the desert to my little cabin but yet I didn't have the heart to leave them in the middle of the forest were they would probably be dead by morning, probably eaten by wolfs or something of the sort. They were human beings too and had never hurt her nor someone she cared about so she didn't have any right to kill them and the medic in her told her she had to save any life she could, no matter what had that being done in the past._

_Two days had gone by and neither man had woken up, they had been in pretty bad shape when she had found them. She was injecting some painkillers to the silver haired man when she felt the rustling of the covers, 'so he was starting to wake up?' _

_'Oi bitch, where am I and what happened?' His deep amethyst eyed were looking at me intensely and I almost flinched, he had a certain thing about him that screamed 'fuck off'._

_ 'First thing I don't like to be called bitch, I'm not a dog and I have a name, it's Minami by the way, and you are in my house because I found you and your friend almost dead in the desert'. _

_He looked slightly puzzled at first but then a look of understanding crossed his face 'Ah you mean the cheap bastard? We're not even close to fuckin' friends, we try to kill each other constantly, and my name's Hidan, if you were wondering' He had a lot of energy for someone who had just regained consciousness, I mused to myself._

_ 'Well Hidan-kun, your 'partner' has not waken up yet, may I inquire what's his name or is he just 'cheap bastard' ?' He stared at me blankly for a moment before a smirk placed itself on his face. _

_'If I can't fuckin' call you bitch then you won't know his fuckin' name till he wakes up' I could sense this was going to be more tiring than I had first had in mind..._

_End of flashback._

Maybe all of this was meant to be, the only thing I knew was that I had become attached to them and didn't want them to leave and never come back again, who knows, there's the possibility that I would get familiar with some of the other Akatsuki members...


End file.
